Scientology has launched their usual ad hominem attacks on Alex Gibney and Going Clear.
Every person interviewed or associated with the film is subject to the scientology smear campaign. Even now including attempting to “dead agent” Alex Gibney by claiming his deceased father was some sort of “CIA Propagandist” and thus “the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.” This sort of insanity makes them the object of universal derision.
A couple of days ago they fired what they thought was another in the apparently unending stream of shots across HBO’s bow. Like those that have preceded them, it turns out it was simply another footbullet. It seems they have a short memory when it comes to what THEY have said and the documents that prove it. They think that because they can pretend to their clubbed seals that such documents don’t exist that they don’t exist in the real world. It’s amusing to watch them proclaim that documents exposing their lies are conveniently “lost” or “never existed” — yet they are happy to dig out O/W write ups from pc folders that are 20 years old to “prove” anyone who disagrees with them is a degenerate criminal. It seems the only things that never get lost in scientology are documents about their self appointed enemies.
Sometimes though, they get caught with their pants around their ankles.
Here is an excerpt from the newest addition to the Freedom website designed to “dead agent” Going Clear. It is from an 18 February letter written by David Miscavige (under his pen name Karin Pouw) to Sheila Nevins, head of HBO Documentary Films:
Or in the case of Sara Goldberg, a liar who her own daughter was willing to tell you is the one who broke up her own family—not the Church—by siding with her drug-addicted son over her daughter. The Church had nothing to do with Sara Goldberg’s breakup of her family and friendships. This is a textbook case of someone who now blames others rather than accept responsibility for her own actions.
The cruelty and insanity of these people will soon become apparent to all the world.
While complaining in the same letter about “disclosing information about her [Sara’s] granddaughter ‘without her permission’,” in virtually the next sentence they gratuitously publicly label her son “drug-addicted”? Typical.
But here is what REALLY happened, contrary to the church’s indignant whining lie that they “had nothing to do with Sara Goldberg’s breakup of her family.”
Being a good, compliant scientologist, Sara had petitioned the IJC to remain in contact with BOTH her children.
She was told by Mike Ellis, who the church (inaccurately) describes as the highest authority on matters of ethics and justice in scientology, that she could NOT remain in touch with her son as it was a violation of HCOB 10 SEPT 83 PTSNESS AND DISCONNECTION.
You can see his whole letter here — it was published in the Tampa Bay Times when they wrote this story a year ago.
I guess Mike Ellis thinks that if he kicks someone in the teeth and orders them to split up their family that all is OK if he signs it “Much Love.”
This article was aptly titled “Sara’s Choice” by Joe Childs of the Times as it didn’t matter WHICH way Sara chose — she either lost her son or her daughter because of the rules of the church, not her own choosing. Remain connected to her son and she would be declared and her daughter would be forced to disconnect from her (or have to disconnect from her husband) or choose to stick with the church and abandon her “drug-addicted” son.
Scientology’s response is as blatantly arrogant, uncaring and vicious as the Commandant of Auschwitz proclaiming Sophie had a choice between her son and daughter. But then to add insult to injury, protesting that he had nothing to do with “breaking up her family” and it was her choice to send her daughter to the ovens and save her son accusing Sophie of “blaming others” rather than “accepting responsibility for her own actions.” Disgusting.
Happily, millions will see the HBO film and be able to make up their own minds where their sympathies lie. I doubt there was a single person on earth who watched Sophie’s Choice and felt the Nazis had done nothing wrong. I suspect the odds are about the same once people have seen Going Clear as to who they will side with.
I hope their scorn and disdain rains down upon the head of David Miscavige and his cronies in a never ending and ever increasing deluge.
It is what he is so rightly afraid of.
This film is going to rip back the carefully constructed curtain he and his minions hide behind. And the arrogant, disdainful, vicious responses that have spewed forth accusing everyone involved in the film of heinous crimes, bigotry, hatred, lying, whoring themselves and virtually anything else you can think of, will serve only to confirm everything that is exposed in Alex Gibney’s movie.
In some ways, I hope they keep it up. Every time they open their mouths they are increasing the audience and adding to the proof of the veracity of this film.
This end-game of Scientology will be over shortly. I’d like to encourage all of us to begin to take our hard won experience and revelations about religion and watch for examples in our communities and around the world to carry this same debunking fight forward. To my mind, Scientology is just a warm up. I believe that Man cannot move forward into a better more scientific future dragging detrimental political ideologies such as religion along with him. I know, that’s harsh. Just please consider it.
I agree with you Chris. We can have a better world where people are free to live their lives with their friends and family in peace. Those of you out there who know things aren’t right within the church, those of you who see the injustices, you can make a difference by withdrawing your cooperation from those who oppress and/or speaking out against their abuses.
David Miscavige is a criminal, fascist Nazi. He needs to be criminally prosecuted.
What we need is a class action lawsuit.
Speaking of class action lawsuit, read Tony O’s site today. Financials of the church in Australia were published. And Tony in the comments section of John P Capitalist’s comments, said that if parishoners were to demand refunds of money on account, that could bankrupt the church and that’s why they fight so hard against cases like Luis Garcia’s. They can’t have one case win their money back because then the flood gates would open and everyone would demand their own money on account refunded. And he said it would hurt the church even if they didn’t give a dime back… just the fact of the lawsuit demanding it back would make it so that the church could not transfer money from their off shore accounts over to America to cover paying all these refund requests, If they did try transferring money to pay it, it would be seized immediately when it hit the American bank account, and this would hurt the church a lot. There are many ways to get the objective fulfilled, many ways to skin a cat as we know from the Al Capone story of taxes finally got him in the end. Read Tony’s blog all about the money trail.
” just the fact of the lawsuit demanding it back would make it so that the church could not transfer money from their off shore accounts over to America to cover paying all these refund requests,”
That is incorrect. A suit in Australia doesn’t hamper the ability to move money from Barbados to the USA. A suit in the USA doesn’t even do that. It would simply force the CoS down under to liquidate assets held THERE. A good thing for sure.
Something was lost in translation when I tried to report what was said on Tony O’s site. The gist about transferring money is if there is a lawsuit resulting in a judgement to refund money, he said that trying to get money back in here from overseas, it will be taken immediately. But don’t take my word, just go to the Tony O site and read it and the comments from John P Capitalist etc.
Good article Mike. When I read this stuff I can feel my temperature rise. Makes me get militant like. Gayles story and others makes me positively thermonuclear!! Ive about had it really. What more can we do? I mean this venting about Hubbard this, Elroon that may make someone feel a bit better for a minute or two but it aint the real why. It solves jack shit! I get that constant pressure and exposure of RCS crimes is making the name scientology and L.Ron worse than shit itself and has Miscarriage bunkering up. However this is far too fuckin slow, I wanna see that institution napalmed right now! Why is it taking so long?? There are people we care about trapped inside that mental capsule of mindwarp who need us goddammit!!
Dm……This is the situation you find yourself in when you blame others and don’t take responsibility for your actions. And put some damn clothes on, you’re embarrassing yourself.
Miscavige can’t stop giving more and more buzz to this documentary, so much buzz that many people who could care less about Scientology who wouldn’t ordinarily watch it will do so because they’re curious about all the fuss being kicked up. As for the Still-Ins, because of what assuredly right now are the urgent “Closed Door Briefings” and other dire warnings about the film, a portion of them will be cowed enough and frightened about losing their eternity enough to not watch it, poor devils.
” For that reason, “Going Clear” may not cause the cult a mass exodus of members.”
Maybe not Beryl, but it will sure alert the population to what $cientology really is. They (kool aiders) will be avoided like the plague by anyone who has seen or heard of the subject. Expect to hear a lot of “Really? You belong to that group? EEEWWWWWUUUUUUU”
That’s right Newcomer. I think most $cien watchers feel the same way because it’s obvious how people are reacting already, and very few of those people have even seen Going Clear yet. They’re getting worked up just from the little tid bits of info being reported in the online trade papers and celebrity magazine sites. Think what happens when everybody sees this movie next month. Oh wait, you already did that LOL. Like you said, “expect to hear a lot of Really? You belong to that group? EEEEEWWWUUUUUUUU!!!!!” And I second that commotion!
I will enjoy watching the Cobb roast.
“The cruelty and insanity of these people will soon become apparent to all the world.”
I’m pretty sure that the whole world that has Internet access is already quite aware that these violently insane Scientology criminals are exactly what the documents and media exposure shows that they are.
The insane criminals are shitting themselves white in anger, fear, and frustration at the Going Clear documentary. They know that there will be fewer and fewer rubes, marks, and suckers that fall for their frauds and know that their days of committing massive human rights crimes against society is coming to an end. Finally.
As stated above, Scientology already has pretty much been bled dry as a movement. For that reason, “Going Clear” may not cause the cult a mass exodus of members. People have long since stopped joining anyway, and the already ins will be asked not to watch it and so they will not unless they already know something is wrong and are ready to leave anyway. That being said, it will definitely be an embarrassment for the Church.
“People have long since stopped joining anyway”. Exactly! Any action taken by the Church such as this one is aimed to squeeze more money out of the existing members. They do not care about getting new moneyed members because they know this will never happen due to their poor reputation and due to people with money not being stupid enough to join. All their future actions are now geared to getting the whales to donate more as it is only they who have the resources left to hand over to the cult so it can continue its day-to-day operations.
The “ins” may even, not knowing any better, think of Alex Gibney as insignificant (after all he’s only a documentary guy, nowhere near as much viewed as Tom Cruise)–until they check out Freedumb magazine. At that point, they may just decide that “maybe, this is a big deal after all.” So they may decide to give it a peek after all–and it’ll all be Freedumb’s doing!
They may be left to wonder, “why did Alex get an Oscar, and Tom hasn’t,” or “how am I going to pay for all this sec checking now?”Oh, the lure of the forbidden fruit!
I am another Sara that experienced the disconnection policy. Years ago they told my daughter to disconnect from her family. At that moment I felt real hatred, a feeling I never experienced in my life before. We did not see her for more than a year. After that we were allowed to see her again, but the relation was never the same again. It will always stand between us.
And Scientology is not the only ‘religion’ practicising disconnection. Read the bible:
Luke 14:26 – where Jezus says: ‘If any man came to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple’.
Religion wants you, body and soul.
Sara, as re the quote from Luke 14:26, please keep in mind that the New Testament was first written in Greek, then translated into Latin, and then, after nearly a thousand years, translated into Middle English. The word “hate” may not be a pure translation of the original text. Don’t forget, back in the day, the more priests (who were not permitted to marry and have children), the more land, money, and other assets accrued to the Church when they died. Just saying.
Also, even the original Greek text may not be accurate of what Jesus actually said, in that Jesus did not speak Greek, he spoke Hebrew, and the Book of Luke was written, I believe at least a century after his death by a Greek. By the way, I’m not tooting the horn for Christianity, because even though I was born into it, I never believed in the Virgin Birth, which, technically speaking, makes me not a Christian.
Also, none of this is pertinent to your tremendous loss, Sara. I didn’t intend to cavil with you and I apologize if what I wrote above came across as insensitive. If I could I would delete it.
Aquamarine: don’t worry. It’s allright.
My point is that this quote is in the bible as such. Does it matter who wrote it when?
I also think these were not the words of Jezus himself, but we will never know for sure.
It’s just that disconnection or excommunication is an age old phenomenon. That scientology uses it so cruelly and so ‘rucksichtlos’ shows that it is a very fundamentalist ‘religion’.
Sara: I am genuinely sorry to hear about your loss caused by disconnection! Thankfully, disconnection is NOT a policy shared by “religion” in general as you seem to think.
First off, the Biblical passage you are quoting has NOTHING to do with disconnection. In it, Jesus is warning those who were his aspiring followers of the cost that this would entail. He was telling them to be prepared that they would be putting everything, including their relationships and even their own lives, on the line. He is in no way recommending that his followers should be “disconnecting” from everybody. This is also clear from the reference to their “own lives.” How do you disconnect from that, other than to realize that following Jesus may very well result in martyrdom in the circumstances at that time, as it frequently did (and it still does in some places to this day).
Of course, I am not familiar with the literally thousands of religions worldwide (not to mention the many sects that have arise form quite a few of them). But I can confidently say that I am not familiar with a SINGLE Christian denomination that practices disconnection. (There may be some fringe groups such as the Amish who practice “shunning” from what I understand).
What makes the “C”oS policy so insidious-and thankfully, unique–is that (a) is is FORCED disconnection and (b) they lie about it. If a person who is very engaged in certain politics, causes, a philosophy or a religion CHOOSES to loosen or break their ties with people who are disrespectful or negative about their commitment, I don’t see one bit of a problem with that. In fact, such a form of “disconnection” is probably par for the course. Even then, an individual can decide whether they still want to have limited contact with such people, at family gatherings or in professional relationships.
In scn, “parishioners” are not given that choice! Not only are they ordered to disconnect on every level (even marriage and children and relationships affecting their livelihood), but the consequences of doing so are severe. Obviously, I don’t need to be telling YOU that, but I wanted to make the distinction really clear. This is NOT a problem of “religion” (certainly not in mainstream religions), this is a direct problem of a specific cult masquerading as one.
As a mass movement, Scientology is already dead. Miscavige can probably keep his business open and pulling in more cash if he can get in two or three hundred upper middle class Eastern Europeans or Asians in a year, folks who have lots of money but now want some super powers and/or personal happiness. And of course if he can keep playing to the personal insecurities of the remaining whales likes Nancy Cartwright, Duggan, Tabibzedahs, etc and keep them paying through the nose. But getting in “regular folks” from the USA, Canada, Australia, Britain, Germany, France and the rest of Europe? Too many computers!
As for the 10,000 or so “Westerners” still in? Getting older and older and they will all be dead in 20 years. But if you have any hope for folks you know still in, ONLY ONE WAY OUT THAT I CAN SEE. And that is for the CoS to bleed them dry and bankrupt them. When they are penniless and in too much debt to borrow any more, they will be left alone and leave even if not by their choice.
So true Joe. So many have already slipped away without making any statement or comment, knowing full well their utterance could be overheard at a gathering and written up.
There’s nothing I can say to match or better the brilliance of Mike’s post and the comments of you all! I just want to throw in my 2 cents. My Sophy’s choice was following my own integrity and withdrawing from the Church once I realized the duplicity and non following of the Aims of Scientology along with the not following of the very Policy that sounded so good and sane actually was coming directly from the highest level of management, the Boss himself. I knew full well that I might lose my children, Conan, Devin and Jamie but I had to make the choice of being a parent who had honor and integrity or be a coward. My responsibility was to be the best example of a parent that I could be. If anything could salvage them from the trap I had put them in by getting involved in Scientology it was to be true to my own truth. I paid the most severe price, my youngest son, Devin, was caught in the middle between the loyalty to his brothers or his parents drove him to take his own life.
Richard.
Oh, this is truly sad. I did not know this. It is exactly why I persist. This abuse must be stopped.
:(. Yes. You did the right thing Richard as you stated.
And Yes, This shit has to stop.
This is heart breaking Richard. I am so sorry. I can only imagine the loss as it came so close to happening to me. This insanity of disconnection must end. It is for things like this that i speak out. No more disconnection in the Church if Scientology. Let’s decide it ends now.
Richard.I did not know this either. I cannot imagine what it would be like to lose my son or daughter. My heart goes out to you. And to so many others who lost loved ones to this insanity. We, all of us who have seen the cult for what it is, must redouble our efforts to see it disappear, by telling and supporting the truth whenever and wherever we can. This evil must not continue.
Mike, I’m with you there bro!
Richard — my heart broke hearing about the suicide of your youngest child … I don’t believe there is anything most devastating to a family than the suicide of one of its members. My father committed suicide when I was in the Sea Org, which was the catalyst to my leaving.
To this day … 35 years later … my heart cracks open again and again when I hear of a suicide. The young man who won last night’s Oscar for best adapted screenplay for “Imitation Game” spoke of his attempted suicide at 16. I cried.
No matter my pain over the loss of my father … nothing but nothing could come close to the horrific pain of losing a child to suicide.
I just cannot even bring my mind close to that pain.
Holding you and Kristina in my prayers and all who have lost a child.
Love,
Windhorse
Thank you WH. There is no pain worse than losing your child.That makes any ideology that causes that, to be the ultimate or furthest towards the evil end of the spectrum. What happened to “We of the Church believe that all men have the right to think freely and to write freely, And to Say ones opinions and one’s truth.” That is what attracted me to it originally only to find that it was the bate to ensnare this and other spirits that had evolved higher than the totally enslaved who watch TV all day and drink beer to stay numbed down. They are not the dangerous ones. It’s the ones that are emerging, getting free of the chains. As a last ditch effort to enslave even them comes this wolf in sheep’s clothing, the ultimate betrayer, The Church of Scientology saying the things you want to hear and thinking this group is “your” group that fights the good fight only to find out that even you were blind enough to get caught in the sticky web of the spider but not only that but innocently delivering your entire family to the dinner! You gotta admit it that Satan guy is no dummy, sat on the left side of God you say. Fooled even him? It must have been particularly gratifying to him to snare such an intelligent and accomplished person such as I. On the other hand I take full responsibility for it. My Achilles heel was exposed. My bad! For what it’s worth I am stronger and wiser now. Transcending slightly, I am grateful for the entire experience. I have evolved far beyond where I was when I was embroiled in the mess. What a price for freedom!
Richard, I’m with you. What a price to pay for your supposed freedom. Well we all learned a lesson from it, so we will be harder to trap next time. I’m so sorry for your loss and the price you paid. It’s a tragedy. But keep on transcending and growing. Your story needs to be heard by millions.
I agree Cindy, there should be a blog in the languages that the Church of $ is focusing on that reposts all the disconnection stories. Of all the destructive things the Cof $ does is the disconnection thing. The rest is buyer beware. Everyone has the right to learn their own lessons in this evolution thing but at least maybe we can save some others of the pain contained in this one action of disconnection. It is the ultimate blackmail, “You do what we say or you lose everything that you value in this lifetime”.
Yep, blackmail is a good way to put it, Richard. And yes, let’s find some Russian translators to translate the disconnection stories so that when they go recruiting those eastern European young immigrant hopefuls, they will see a little of the truth before they are swept up in the net.
I’m very sorry to hear about your son, Richard. Thank you for sharing this; it’s valuable information that collaborates all the other stories about the evil practice of Disconnection. The CoS cannot keep hiding as it has for so many years. My thoughts are with you.
Thank you Pepper.
Richard, I am without sufficient words to convey my admiration of you and my sorrow for what you have had to endure. This is why we all continue to expose this organization’s abuses and crimes.
I agree Sindy and David. Just one injustice of this kind is all that is necessary to bring into question these policies but hundreds? It’s just pure evil.
This. Is. WHY.
As is common with all pathological liars, they lie even when they don’t need to and lie so often that were they ever to tell the truth who would know or even care?
Their credibility was annihilated long ago. The only way they could ever get it back would be to admit to the decades of lies, be totally transparent in all future actions and to stop harming people and prove they are helping others and can actually listen and change. Ha! That will NEVER happen.
They’re toast. To all but the insulated few still left in the cult, the organization’s word is to be thoroughly ignored.
Very good post, Sindy.
They are clearly toast…..the ultimate melt down is coming. I certainly hope they will eventually lose their tax exemption. Perhaps those who will have inherited the post Miscavige phase will paint the picture of reform while not appearing that they capitulated. Miscarriages successor may never admit to problems related to source scripture. Miscavige needs an out. Maybe he will retire after being lauded for his era of “unprecedented expansion” and graciously makes his exit with wild applause. Perhaps then they will say that they have “corrected certain individuals” and are in the process of trying to appeal the tax decision. But these cats will never fully come correct.
Miscavige and his enablers continue to show themselves to be disgusting and vicious. The attacks on Gibney, the Goldbergs and others in the film belong to the realm of a Goebbels and the worst of fundamentalist haters. It is heartening to know that this heartless, dispassionate and cruel organization of evil is finding itself in an inescapable room with its four walls inexorably closing in on the center.
Agreed.
Telling Lies is the lowest form of creativity.
I received almost exactly the same letter from Mike Ellis, IJC that per standard LRH policy I had to remain disconnected from my then 83 year old mother. (She has since passed) This is common in Scientology. There was no compassion or attempt by any church official to help rectify that situation. Their tax exempt status should be revoked. They do NOT provide a public benefit with this kind of terrorism.
+1 The blatant disregard for the privacy of counseling is so outrageous as well. Can you imagine a priest divulging someone’s sins even if they had been excommunicated? The violation of religious purpose by maliciously telling personal issues, in such a way as to malign them, to hide your own criminal behavior, is so grotesque and anti spiritual. It is appalling.
Of course, Hallie, they want to have it both ways. Remember that they tried to use the issue of priest-penitent confidentiality in Laura D’s suit to prevent her from getting her PC folders back and using them as court evidence. They failed miserably, but it’s a wonderful indicator of their mentality.
Doug, so true! Yes there was some benefit to me in the early days but the destruction of disconnection way more than nullified the benefit. If they only practiced what they preach there might be a justification for their existence. To sum up the church has betrayed my trust.
Thanks, Mike, for putting out the word day after day. After your post yesterday, I took it upon myself to check out the new emission of Freedumb magazine (I know, I did it to myself!). I had also previously viewed their dead agenting posts on Wright, Gibney and anybody else who was in the film, or even as much as suspected to be anywhere near it.
What I found was extremely encouraging! First off, they have now flushed themselves out! No longer are they hiding behind the deniability of anonymous hate-mongering sites. They are now republishing the same foaming-at-the-mouth dreck under their own masthead–thusly acknowledging its true authorship. What more could we wish for! I just love the smell of utter despair in the morning…
But what is even more telling are their “arguments” themselves. They are a one-trick pony capable of exactly ONE tactic: Fallacy tech! And, even there, they seem to be incapable of at least switching up their logical fallacies at all. They basically major in ad-hominem and strawmen. Even in their most neutral articles espousing such universal virtues as religious freedom and human rights (holding, naturally, only OTHERS to these standards), they are incapable of being anything other than “the sky is falling” victims of persecution by some strawman or other!
But the ad-hominems are beyond amazing! I won’t repeat any of them here but, to name just one, it is flabbergasting that anybody beyond the emotional development of a somewhat dim 12-year old bully would rely on mangling people’s names and delude themselves that they just made a valid argument. Which is great, as it shows they have no argument to make that would refute their critics!
This kind of transparent propaganda and complete lack of intellectual flexibility is the hallmark of totalitarian regimes. But the beauty of it is that it appears in “approved” CoS outlets. That means that even “good” scientologists who follow the party line and ignore all of the internet entheta (and avoid the expense and nuisance of the consequent sec check) are encouraged to read it! They get to see the “best” that their leaders with their highest ethics, communication abilities and OT superpowers can come up with!
To name just one example, When Dani Lemberger became unsettled by some of the “scuttlebutt” suggesting that all was not well in homo novis land, his higher-ups encouraged him to read Freedumb for “the real scoop” on the “Posse of Lunatics” causing all the stir. Far from reassured by the output of his betters, his entire mission seceded!
The 4’13” Emperor may wear a 5-year Sea Org salary any given day but you don’t have to send away for trick glasses to see right through his threads. All scientologists have to do is read their own apologists to discover that they have become the people they used to laugh about!
Nice writing Todd….
Damn! Very nice!
The very idea of having to choose between your children is disgusting. The disconnection letter I received from my daughter (which I know damn well she did not write) suggested an atmosphere of competition between her and her brother for my support and love. I supported Marc and Claire in their efforts to escape the clutches of C0$ because they asked for it. It was not because they deserved it more or because I favored them more. I will provide as much support for Stephanie if and when she asks for it. Unfortunately, it appears she is still a prisoner of belief (Thanks, Chris Shelton!) and will need to break free of those chains before she will see a need for my support. In the meantime, I will continue to speak out and hope the day is near when I can have both of my children in my life.
Thanks Bernie.
You, along with Claire, Sara, Cindy, Lori, Mary and so many others are the strong voices that will bring this abuse of human rights to an end.
I am proud to call you all friends.
<3 Ditto Mike!
Thank you Mike.
Thank you, Mike. It is my honor to call you friend. Thank you for all you do so tirelessly to make sure that the reign of terror can come to an end soon.
Addendum to last comment : this same hubbard later told his daughter when she’d grown up and wanted to meet her daddy, that she was not his daughter and that her father had been Jack Parsons.
How’s that for a real piece-of-shit ? Now there’s a real humanoid!
Regarding the breaking up of families by the so-called church and hubbard’s theory that the “g.e.” is family hungry because it’s psychotic : What else can we expect to come out of a “man” who regularly beat and strangled his second wife, whom he married in violation of the laws of the land, since he was still married to his first wife. This second wife(Sara Northrup) was the girlfriend of his “good friend” Jack Parsons, but he stole her from him and married her w/o telling her he was already married. Then, after abusing Sara and
trying to get her to kill herself by giving her pills to end her life, he kidnapped his own baby daughter from Sara and hid her in order to gain more control over Sara.
This is the author of the Second Dynamic book. Does this sound like any decent, normal family man you ever heard of? There’s enough material right here to make one hell of a soap opera!!
And plenty more where this comes from. Hell, the “Family Man” guy in the TV cartoon series is a much better man than this psycho anytime. So don’t be surprised at all that the “church” has done to destroy families.
It’s in the very genetic makeup of “der Founder”. May he be rotting in hell. I hope all those demons he was so afraid of came to get him, just like those horrible dark things that came growling out of the floor in the film Ghost. Fuck you, hubbard ! And Fuck you, too, mini-hubbard (yeah, you miss cabbage).
(sorry I lost my composure there, it’s just too much). Peace and Love to you all. Your families will be whole again very soon.
Or in my case it was either I go in and get my face ripped off in the church or see my daughter and let her go to “jail” aka “the sea org”!
It has to be deeply disturbing to be the subject of a Scientology “Who is ______?” profile. That said, these smears read like an Onion article for scientology watchers.
If I were accused of stalking an ex boyfriend, say-sitting outside his house in my Gunite Grey Audi TT, my rebuttal would not be “This restraining order is Balderdash!!!!! It’s a GUNMETAL Gray Audi QUATTRO!!! And there’s no way I’ve been sitting outside his house because he’s been staying at THAT WHORE’S house! It’s easy to confirm by the nail clippings and shavings in the trash that he’s been there at least 4 days now, living in sin, degradedly drinking on average SIX Heinekens a week, and leaving the empties on the curb every Wednesday at 10am for the whole world to see!!! Not to mention he only tipped 12% at their pre-coital Olive Garden rendezvous last night. I have the crumpled receipt to prove it. THIS IS TRUE!!!!!!
Restraining order STAMPED and GRANTED.
Quite some time ago, Marty Rathbun had pointed out that for the church to survive it needed to integrate, evolve, and thus attain the ability to transcend. He also pointed out that when you tell the truth it becomes part of your past whereas when you tell a lie it continues to be part of your future.
As this blog (Mike Rinder’s) has shown so many times and has shown so pellucidly today, Scientology is incapable of integrating, evolving, transcending, or telling the truth. I suspect that the HBO film will drive these points home as well, even if not using those exact words.
One of the great ironies is that Scientology itself teaches that for a problem to persist it must contain a lie, and that for something to go away the exact truth of it must be seen. (I am referring to doctrine around notisness or denial, alterisness or lying, isness or truth or reality, and asisness or the absolute truth of something which thus makes an absolute duplicate at which point the thing which is so duplicated will disappear, supposedly.)
Well, Scientology cannot follow its own precepts in this regard because it has so many contradictory rules. On the one hand lying is bad and creates problems and the truth must be told and is the only way out of any given problem. On the other hand you must lie to, steal from, cheat, sue, and otherwise attempt to destroy your enemies.
Thus Scientology is doomed to continually hoist itself by its own petard, as someone above put it. It is trapped in the prison of its own beliefs. It cannot change. It will probably survive in some fashion — after all, there are groups around with just as strange of beliefs as Scientology and with less money — but it will become increasingly be seen as a bizarre fringe religion making false scientific claims and/or as a stubborn, persistent, and dangerous cult.
Finally, it has never ceased to amaze me that the brilliant, eons spanning, interstellar Hubbard could not predict the Internet. In that regard I thought readers might enjoy that YouTube video at this link regarding the Internet as a place revisions come to to die.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rqw4krMOug
I find it very easy to just HATE David Miscavige (autocorrect went to spell “miscarriage”) and the “religion” of scientology.
Pretty sure most of our population will do the same.
I find it super easy to LOVE everyone else, creatures and planet earth included. And if there is some xenu someplace, I’ll include those folks too.
That letter from Mike Ellis re Sara Goldberg, denying her the right to stay connected to her daughter (or son), truly is a Sophie’s Choice. And it is proof that Disconnection is practiced on a regular basis in the C of $ despite their protestations otherwise. It would be interesting for someone to sue Scn for pain and suffering caused by its order to have a family member disconnect from them. I wonder how that case would go. It would shine the light on the evil practice and maybe get enough public outcry to abolish it or at least get Scn investigated. And maybe the massive public disapproval would make DM abolish disconnection “for PR purposes.”
Sara was given a RIGHT choice and a WRONG choice (not Sophie’s choice which was a choice between which child to send off to death and which one to let survive) but it was a lose lose proposition for sure. She lost more than a daughter and granddaughter. She lost many friends, a way of life and years and years of contributing to a group she believed in and the accolades that went with it.
I see many make the WRONG choice based on not wanting to lose these other things: their comforts of life, income, accolades and acceptance, friends and a way of walking through life; they don’t have to make a completely fresh start but maybe lose a daughter or a parent. BUT, they make the WRONG choice (the evil choice), the most “comfortable” of the two options. In turn, they sell their soul to the devil (the church of scientology/david miscavige).
Sara courageously made the right choice. (Excuse me for speaking for you Sara, but I see this differently than Sophie’s Choice.)
I agree with you Mary. It takes bravery to make the right choice instead of the comfortable choice.
Sara (and you and so many others) making the uncomfortable, right choice are the Rosa Parks of this struggle to end the human rights abuse of disconnection.
Thank you Mary and Mike. You are right. It never seemed like a Sophie’s Choice to me. In fact, that is what I told the Committee of Evidence, the FSO MAA, Daniel and the Dir I&R on the Ship (Max). I told them I was doing what was RIGHT and it wasn’t right to disconnect from my son. These church members tried to talk to me about loosing my “eternity.” I replied there was something far worse than loosing one’s eternity and that was loosing ones integrity for without integrity ones eternity is already lost. I was keeping true to my personal integrity and was intent on keeping my family together. I refused to disconnect from my son and hoped with my daughter that love would prevail and she wouldn’t disconnect from me.
The pain of loosing a child is beyond anything I imagined it would be. The pain I watched my son go through and my husband was at times, more than I could bare. But, if I had to do it all over again, I’d do the same thing, because it was and is the right thing to do. No more families should be torn apart like mine, and the many others Miscavige has tried to destroy, because we wouldn’t obey his command.
I hope that this film inspires and lights a fire in others to stand up, speak out and don’t be afraid. Integrity is more important. If everyone stood up, said “No” like Rosa Parks did on that bus and refuse to give her seat to a white man, it could launch a movement and times would change. The more people standing up, the less scary it is. The reward: Disconnection would be a thing of the past. Our families would be together again and other families would never have to go through what I did with my family. They would not have to know the pain of disconnection.
Very, very well said Mike and McCarran.
To Dave, OSA, Other trolls and losers in the cult………………bring on your sad, shitty choices you suggest be made for something that you think passes for a life……. and prepare for a major ass kicking because it is coming your way, care of all the rest of us.
Thanks once again Mike for being right on the spot with miscavige’s tirades and explaining the veil of legal perplexities he and the RCS hides behind.
I now firmly believe it is impossible for the Cof$ to communicate anything that will not be publically ridiculed. Their lack of exchange and any positive results of helping anyone presents a very large mirror which is growing every time they open their mouths, their own reflection now scares them to death. All those letters they wrote so smugly in the past, and were so very much “on policy” are now poison to them. They truly have no idea of the damage they have done to people’s lives, smashing family apart and reducing parents to abject grief by forced disconnection from their children. And now the children will be subject to the reality of what they agreed to and when they realise they were forced to cause so much harm to their own family because of religious bigotry – good God… it’s enough to reduce the most able to tears.
Their mastery of the legal system is beginning to wane and become irrelevant. It will mean less & less as the court of public opinion grows. The HBO film in March must feel like a hostile army advancing toward them. Clever tactic to delay the showing. The RCS must be stewing at a fast boil.
Nothing is pleasant about the RCS. I feel at a loss personally as my own family has a couple of card carrying members and they are impossible to communicate to. There is no pleasure in being right about this, the grief and upsets are just around the corner but better late then never I suppose. It’s been a long, long road and I’m sick to death of the insanity.
But I do believe a balanced approach must be taken and compassion displayed when the RCS finally does crumble, yes, throw the leader and the evil cronies in jail but let’s get to work repairing broken families, we need sites like this one in particular to refer to, Otega’s, Marty’s & ESMB while informative display too much hate and make wrong to be of use once someone needs help gathering and understanding the truth. Perhaps there is a little truth in “the meek shall inherit the earth.”
“textbook case of someone who now blames others rather than accept responsibility for her own actions:. Sounds like they are talking about the actions leader and his minions do DO all the time.
But the cruelty, dishonesty, arrogance, cowardice, and soul immaturity is evident on every single word ‘K Paw’ wrote.
Mike is right, keep it up.
Fair game is indeed alive and well, more than ever. Dave is snorting his ass off presently but come March 29, his worst nightmare will come back to haunt him. This will be way worse than the TIME magazine article of 1991. Isn’t that the reason DM went on ABC’s Nightline.
You sound very pissed off, Mike, and with good reason.
The “church” (aka David Miscavige) gives an entirely new dimension to the concept of hypocrisy.
I would like to see a compilation published of all the letters from IJC and other enforcement entities in the church, that are in the public domain already or in the hands of victims willing to turn them over. That would make for some scintillating reading. Kind of like staying up all night with a flashlight under the bedsheets reading some gothic horror or watching an endless performance of Grand Guignol. It’s the depths of despair, but necessary to understand why the policies and practices of CoS must be opposed.
https://scientology101.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/scientology-repayment.jpg
David Miscavige has nuked himself so often his footprints are radioactive.
Thanks Mike. Your comments are clearly insightful and lay out what is truly going on here. I hadn’t read Mike Ellis’ letter in quite some time. It strikes me now how Ellis specifically and intentionally omits any mention of Nick’s relation to Sara. Any person in the real world, delivering a “hard to receive” communication like that, would show compassion at least. Mike’s letter shows none of that, it’s another check off the list, BP target done, statistic attained, family destroyed. The typical scn response of “our way or the highway”. It reminded me of how often derisive comments were made by Dave and Shelly regarding staff commitment to their families. “They need to cut the umbilical cord already”. Truly disturbing in retrospect, as a now mother of three. My stomach turns every time I think about it. And every time I see scn and Miscavige contemptuous actions towards others, it only commits me further to expose their lies. It’s quite something to look evil in the face. Stay strong and thanks for all you are doing!
Thanks Claire. Appreciate you adding your highly experienced and intelligent comment.
Thank you Claire for what you are doing as well.
I experienced the same coldness when Kurt (MAA) and Tara (OSA Flag) and Jasmine (MAA) were destroying my family. What was worse was when I also saw this lack of compassion and empathy translate over to my son.
Yep, the terminals (notice I did not use the word ‘people’) I dealt with were Alphonso, Jasmin Arellano and Kathy True.
Sadly, my daughter and nephew who were SO also participated. I assumed they were being directed from above. Seeing the current scene …………. they were ‘the above’.
The dark cloud in the sky known as $cientology is coming in for a hard landing …………….. prepare for incoming!
Thanks Claire. What you say about Miscavige and his minions regarding families is very true. In the church the family unit is always way down the line to the Church, always. My children and I always had a very close relationship. In the end, I refused to disconnect from my son but was totally willing to live quietly, helping my daughter and grand-daughter and still staying connected to my son. That letter Ellis wrote was in response to a petition I wrote to allow my son to stay connected to me and Sheldon while he did his A to E steps. So, my son is wanting to do A to E to get back in the church and have a connection with his sister and niece (Gaby) and Ellis would not allow me to stay connected and help him. I was even comm ev’d, with no KR’s written on me, and the only charge being I would not disconnect from my son. My daughter stayed connected and we stayed close up until the day I got the letter that declared me and Sheldon SP’s. We talked for an hour and shared our last moments holding tight. She told me she loved me and hoped disconnection would end as a practice because she did not agree. Within a couple of days of the declare, I called her twice (no answer); I sent her an email asking her to please allow Shel and I to see Gaby for 15 minutes before they left for Seattle for a week because Gaby wouldn’t understand “disconnection”. I also wrote her a letter of how much I loved them.
This is the response my daughter emailed me two days after my declare: “Please stop sending me emails and calling me. When you get through your A-E, let me know.” This is not my daughter. This is the church and what it does to its parishioners to turn them against their families. They tried to do it with me against my son, Nick. I refused and they declared me. Now they have my daughter saying that I was the one that disconnected from her and broke up the family. I love my daughter very much. She is in the “prison of belief.” I pray she wakes up soon to the truth.
AMEN!
I do too Sara. My daughter unfortunately is in CMO ….. or at least was, and worked in the HGB building with some other real pieces of work. I can only hope that because I am declared and rather mouthy, that they will take a dislike to having her nearby and maybe send her to the RPF or something.
Yo OSA,
I’ll get louder until you you are gone. I’m thinking of doing some public service announcements to the local Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs just to help disseminate real $cientology. Tell me where you want the stats sent!
As though the true colors of this multi-million dollar scam enterprise aren’t blatantly obvious to even the most casual observer, they now go out of their way to expose themselves to the media in what probably is their most effective dissemination campaign ever – the fusillade of foot bullets landing on press desks across the land. Very well done, cappy dave.
The paranoid, petulant ‘tech’ of LRon, as perpetuated by dm, again demonstrates the only tool in the box: whining, schoolyard name calling. Pathetic.
Anyone who has been strong enough to escape from their clutches certainly will not be hurt by these anemic spitballs.
Some church.
This writing below, The GE is a Family Man by L Ron Hubbard, I believe, is doctrinal source of the emotional disconnection and definitional degradation of the family unit.
Thus making the act of disconnection a holy church sacrament.
When this writing is read, demoed, word cleared and checked out, the student of Ron’s will have come to an ethical and moral crossroad.
To them, the family looses it’s essential value.
Granting wiseman status to L Ron Hubbard, granting him the power to know unique things that others don’t is the death of reason and the death of families.
This is evil.
THE GE IS A FAMILY MAN
The GE is a family man; the GE is lost without a family. It’s very strange, but Homo sap is a family unit. The GE is built on that basis. It’s fascinating, fascinating. It’s not important to know it but a lot of your urges toward families and so forth are not thetan urges at all, they’re the GE. The GE can’t survive at all without a family unit. He’s just as dead as a mackerel if he isn’t a family unit, whereas your thetan is just dead as a mackerel if he gets too mixed up in family units.
You can’t talk to GEs; they’re kind of psycho. And by the way, you can fall into this dreadful trap with a GE. You see, he uses the MEST universe with which to build. He’s gotten very, very bad off and he has to use MEST materials all the time.
So, you get this situation here with the GE, and your GE is busy: build, build, build, build, build. And, of course he’s got to have a family to build with.
You get this terrific family thirst. And you get your GE surviving best and being loused up the most because of interfamily relationships.
And your thetan, by the way, can much more easily go into a group. Families are not good groups; they’re bad groups.”
LRH, From the taped lecture
“Flows: Patterns of Interaction”
10 December 1952
It leaves little doubt that adherence to Scientology can inevitably lead to you throwing away all family in favour of your supposed eternity.
Is it safe to say that there is no Scientologists behavior that cannot find its source in Scientology as a subject?
It is my view that the study tech worked.
Any Scientologist who has agreed with this writing above has started on the road to seeing the familily unit as being controlled by genetic ghosts.
The genetic ghost seems to be even lower on the consciousness scale than BTs.
These are lies that have made there way into OUR psyches.
Sorry for posting again. This topic gets me fired up.
This one line here stated below is the essence of the heartless attitude of disconnection.
“You can’t talk to GEs; they’re kind of psycho” L Ron Hubbard The GE is a Family Man
What this one sentence says is when a mother or father or daughter or sister or brother is in incredible pain over the loss of disconnection, it will be considered by the Scientologists as psychotic behavior.
L Ron Hubbard has actually equated love and family bonding as psychotic.
Do you get that?
Do you really get that??
Brian,
Yes, I really do get that! Another one of the truly psychotic aspects of $cientology. That of course does speak loudly as to why the cult members are who they are.
Know them by their actions. Handle them as you would a piece of plutonium. Trust them as you would a rabid dog.
It seems to me that you would have to employ something like “study tech” in order to be more susceptible to and make heads or tails of Hubbard’s writing. That way you have it drilled into your brain that if you don’t understand his ridiculous nonsense it’s YOUR fault not his.
Brian,
I get it too and I have read “The GE is a Family Man” before as well. Like you, I also found it disturbing at the time. Particularly the ending statement. There are several other things that LRH wrote that I found to be the same, or completely untrue based on scientific evidence, etc.
As a Scientologist, I would always tell myself that well,LRH was in fact a writer, therefore he was exercising his writers prerogative. I would simply move on and put it on the “not for use shelf” so to speak. I did this with several other things for example, such as valence processing for curing homosexuality, and some of the viewpoints that LRH obviously held towards the sexuality of men and women given in his many examples of Dianetics (prenatal engrams).
It would have been very interesting if LRH allowed critical discussion of his works in his lectures and if that had been included in the tapes. I would be very interested to hear him defend some of his writings and theories. In the several hundred tapes I’ve listened to of LRH’s lectures, I never heard anyone challenge LRH to truly back up what he was saying. The audience basically oh’s and ah’s, laughs, and applauds pretty much everything he says. Unfortunately, I was not around at the time to get a chance to ask the questions I would have liked to and LRH is no longer here. Although, that may be moot anyway.
Looks like David Miscavige believes this tripe.
None of that makes any goddamn sense.
Reading just about anything Hubbard wrote is excruciating to me. I’m honestly amazed by how many people have read so many volumes of his drivel. Has anyone out there felt that it was still gobbledygook even after you word cleared it?
You don’t need a dictionary to know what “bullshit” means.
Right on Alpha. One minor point however…………..we like bulls around here. Bullshit actually has beneficial uses, especially in composting and helping things grow.
It’s the Daveshit we have problems with. It kills off everything it lands on, it emits a horrific odor for decades and it does not care about what it messes up. That’s why we refer to His stuff as Daveshit! It is very much like $cientology …….. black on white.
Yo Dave,
Had your coffee enema yet today? Go for it good buddy, tell Lou to clean up the loo.
I was born into scientology. Reading this makes me feel ill. It seems that every little thing L. Ron ever did, said or wrote was towards his goal of creating blind followers who had no stronger ties in the world than their ties to him and his cherch.
As a mother of young children and knowing the love I have for my parents and siblings this is truly sickening. But, my family (parents & siblings) have and will disconnect from me for not believing in scientology and its insanity, and for daring to try to talk to them about it. The bright spot is that my children will not be raised to believe that some ‘church’ or group is more important than their family.
Excellent choice!
Bravo! Too Dangerous.
Re: the GE. Scientologists are SOOOOO fucking ignorant about THEIR OWN RELIGION, it is stunning. Constant “word clearing” and they STILL don’t know what the fuck they are talking about. When on the BC, I spent a couple of days (much to the distress of my supe) trying to wrap my head around the “GE” gathering up as many references as I could on it. What I found was that LRH himself finally dropped it as an idea and said it wasn’t important.And then … no more mention of it. From all the LRH references I could find, the GE was allegedly a degraded being who resided in the area of the stomach and ran the automatic body processes for the main thetan who resided in the head. That’s all. LRH eventually decided there was a whole collection of other thetans in the body besides “the main guy.” Correct me if I’m wrong about this. There is of course NO genetic entity degraded thetan in the stomach and Ron knew that. But Scientologists keep using the term in different conexts as if it was real. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
totally agree. And Aesop’s Fable to me summed up Hubbard’s trails of research, the fable with the lesson at the end that one cannot make a purse out of a sow’s ear. There’s no way to make good out of disconnection and no way to make good out of any explanation to make the bad policies like disconnection good. And this applies to all failing aspects of Scientology, and includes READING the final 3 pages of Lawrence Wright’s book, and really absorbing that Hubbard admitted failure.
So what is one to think when the founder of the subject admits failure and still has body thetans he feels compelled to melt an Emeter to try to exorcise off himself and he fails at that?
But things get too late too fast, one gets sucked along in Scientology, or one was born deep into it and had no other choices but the bad ones that strict Scientology disconnection presents followers.
Quit Fast is the Hubbard policy from KSW that applies, and don’t join in the first place.
Yes agreed Joe. But he never went back and said it wasn’t true. This statement, that we all read, had certain degenerative qualities on the idea of what motivates a family.
I have had women post here that said their x husband also pulled this writing out. I think the husband was not wanting to let GE demand things from it by attending to family too much.
The writing is there. No one retracted it’s contents.
This is seed thought to undermined the sacred bond of family. Teachers teach and students learn.
yes, Joe, they keep using it: this was part of the Sea Org recruiters’ reference pack at AO ANZO, in the early 2000s.
Anna Minaar’s favourite quote, I could say.
Yeah, Brian. LRH never went back and said something he previously said was not true, even when he did a 180 on the point later one. Just a “new truth” he discovered. After all … he was “source” (of all wisdom and truth). Had he just been a wee bit humble and nicer to people, he might have a great reputation as a philosopher now.
Joe you got it right about the GE and what you said above about a “new truth”. I completely agree and came to the same conclusion, that the GE just runs the automatic functions (which are genetic) of the body. Actually, an “entity” is not needed for this. It is coded within the DNA of the cells of the body and is passed on through procreation in all life forms.
The fact that LRH never went back and clarified or changed what exactly the GE is, according to his latest research and discoveries is relevant because what he had previously written or stated as “fact” would not be taken back. “The GE is a Family Man” has been used over and over again, to influence people to not be family focused. This would come about in the form of getting people to sacrifice the family’s money, time and energy on Scientology and for Sea Org recruitment of parents and children. Ive’ had it quoted to me and I’ve heard it quoted to others. Probably any public who’s been around for a while in Scientology has probably heard this one.
They will keep it up. They cannot help themselves.
Right. Miscavige has to show the Whales that he is shooting back from all guns but what he’s done is place himself in PR quicksand which is inexorably pulling him down. Glug, glug, ‘bye, Sir.
If I’m not incorrect, lrh had this policy that basically said, “never defend, only attack” those that criticized or attack the church of scientology…guess they are following that script to the dotted “i” and crossed “t”. Keep on digging your hole, scientology, keep on diggin!!! The deeper you dig, the more will be revealed!!
Miscavige’s actions demonstrate that he believes information spreads as it did in 1963, in a tightly controlled linear way. He is unable to understand: 1. That vast amounts of data are accessible to anyone via the Internet and 2. Investigative reporting is the norm in 2015, and journalists will dig and dig to find Miscavige’s “ruin,” his lies. Because a lie Miscavige tells at 9:00 am has traveled the world thousands of times by noon, and has been demonstrated to be a lie by 9:05 am, his “campaigns” are backfiring. He is being impeached by his own words, or as Shakespeare put it, he is being “hoisted by his own petard.”
And considering that the origin of the word “petard” comes from the Middle French for “fart”, it’s oh, so appropriate for DM’s output. He who smelt it, dealt it, Davey.
It’s actually Astounding! I couldn’t believe what it put out on Gibney – a reputable man with street cred – his father! Amazingly stupid.
“Amazingly stupid.” Perhaps DM’s epitaph?
I’d go for “Nisi purgamentum gloriosus” to give it a little bit of class, and if you know your Latin, you’ll know what TV show I’m waiting to be uploaded at this moment…
Miscavige is a cornered rat. He has nothing to lose by being as vicious as possible. Its all he can do, now. Its over for him, he knows that.
I have read many of the church’s DA’s on the infamous eight. They are disgusting and full of obvious lies. I have seen the DA on Alex Gibney. Disgusting!
As far as I’m concerned the church should be sued for libel/slander. But they are so disgusting any public at large will be able to form their own (accurate) opinion about this group. It is EVIL.
+100
I think we need to coin a new word to describe the cult. Regular words don’t do it justice. It is evil it is disgusting. I can’t think of an apt word. I guess in the future we will have to simply say
It is so $cientology! def: “Something so devoid of value there is no other word to describe it.”
Love the phrase, “It (that) is so scientology!” The word “scientology” is so toxic that I think that phrase communicates very well.
I am with you, Newcomer, I decided to download about this “church” every chance I get. Example: I had a hairdresser ask me how my son was doing. In the past, I just said “fine.” With my newfound stance I said, “He was forced to disconnect from me by the church of scientology and it has been horrible.” She asked many questions, wrote the date of the HBO documentary on her calendar and said she will tell her customers to watch it as well.
Looks like I finally learned how to disseminate scientology.
Yea McCarran!
The Diminuitive Miscreant has altered every bit of the standard tech except PR. He got rid of the stuff that sort of worked and kept the stuff that standardly produced universal footbullets when standardly applied.
Anyone else catching the irony?
+1
It’s ironic in the Alanis Morrissette way moreso than the dictionary definition. However, the justice is as poetic as Byron at his best.
“We’ve received cards and letters…” Either Alex or Lawrence when asked about the church’s so called attacks. They could not have been more sanguine.
You could even say they’re insouciant!
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” – Lewis Carroll
Humpty Dumpty also had a great fall, one so big that all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again.
Mike Ellis already looks like Humpty Dumpty. Just sayin’.
BTW: Sheldon, since they’ve put the letter to HBO up on Freedumb’s website, are you, Sara, and Nick considering a libel or slander suit? If not, you should be. Imagine getting Karin Pouw on the stand…
Just as a note, the civil justice system in the US is not an arena to step into lightly, especially against a well funded opponent. Look at the Garcia and Rathbun cases. 2 years and no real progress yet. And they have cases that are easier than a libel or slander case and damages that are far easier to demonstrate. The church knows that libel and slander cases are virtually impossible for plaintiffs to win — which is partly why they don’t sue though they always threaten to do so, and why they routinely print and say libelous and slanderous things. My point is not to read anything into people not filing libel claims.
I was concentrating more on the fact that this met the definition of libel as falsehood published with malice aforethought than the requirement for quantification of damages. It’s just so exciting to see someone stupid enough to fulfill the legal definition of libel these days that I got carried away. But you have to admit that it’d be satisfying as hell to see them dragged into court for Dead Agenting.
Of course it would. I would be happy to help anyone who did. But would probably counsel them not to bother unless they had very deep pockets.
Thanks for clarifying that, Mike. I guess the very best thing that can be done is to keep speaking out and making the dissonance so public that the world at large avoids them like they have leprosy or the plague.
Excellent conclusion….
And, if such a case got that far, to mitigate potential damages CoS would certainly offer proof that Freedom has very few readers.
Would be as funny as the poll they did years ago showing that everyone hated them, so they couldn’t get a fair trial.
Mike, thank you for the info on why the church doesn’t file libel suits although they threaten to, etc. Here is a question which may be naïve and I apologize in advance for my unhattedness in the area. But do you think it is possible for someone to find an attorney willing to work on contingency, meaning that they don’t charge you money unless you win and in that case they take a percentage, like maybe 1/3 of the money won or of the settlement made? My guess is that those attorneys who are suing Narconon are doing it on contingency. Is that a possibility for the libel suit for the Goldbergs?
Highly unlikely. Too little upside for too much potential downside risk (ie a lot of time invested for little potential return).
this is why i have basically given up the practice of law except for my friends and family. “justice delayed is justice denied.” too bad that the legal system doesn’t work on that basic principle. far too many times, i have been involved with litigation that was ultimately derailed because the opponent had more resources, ie money, to throw around than the parties i worked for. this meant a myriad of motions and other tactics which were not designed to get to the ultimate truth of the claims asserted but to bleed the other party through attrition, both in time and money. i dare say that the american civil justice is broken beyond belief. if you have enough money, resources and lawyers, you can make “justice” what and how you want it. disgusting. i should have been an engineer.
What Mike says here makes a lot of sense — unfortunately. It is also a huge indictment of the state of the law in the US. My heart bleeds for the treatment the Goldbergs have received. Their bravery at least pushes the situation with this HBO expose into the court of public opinion where COS and DM’s reputation will become even more of a laughing stock than it already is.
Zana,
” the very best thing that can be done is to keep speaking out and making the dissonance so public that the world at large avoids them like they have leprosy or the plague.”
Well said. AMEN to that!!!
The county I live in has about 55,000 people. It also has a CST compound in the town of Tuolumne which is about a mile from where I live. I would venture to say that there will never be another new person from this county that will participate in the cult known as $cientology. They certainly won’t if they know what happened to me and I make it known.
I have lived here my whole life and I know a lot of people. I tell anyone who is interested that yes, I WAS a $cientologist, yes I suggested that my wife and kids and in-laws get involved in it and yes, they are all gone now, having decided that I was an SP because the cherch said so. That is the price you pay for getting involved in a group without closely inspecting it’s practices. There is no alternative for constant vigilance.
But I have many, many wonderful friends, acquaintances, family members and groups that I participate with and my life has never been better. Ever since I said FUCK YOU to the cult and the horses it rode in on things have improved for me. I recommend it daily to any and all. Besides, it’s fun to make this a better, safer world for all. Bye bye cult!!!!
You said it Coop! Here’s to a better life outside the cult! And Happy Birthday today to you too!
*applaudes*
Thank you for what you said in yesterdays post Espi. I appreciate it. If you ever want to just chat & catch up, Mike has my email and my permission to give it to you. Sure have missed you. 😉
Mike – thanks so much for creating this post. What the cherch is doing to try to discredit my wife is arrogant, cruel and insane. For them to say “The Church had nothing to do with Sara Goldberg’s breakup of her family and friendships” is so BLATANTLY FALSE that it is too bad they can’t be arrested.
To give more context to how false that statement is: we were comm-eved (put on trial) in Sept of 2012. Our primary crime was refusing to disconnect from Sara’s son. Although, Sara’s daughter Ashley knew we were “in bad” with the church, she and her husband, Matt continued our relationship like normal. We continued to take care of their daughter on many occassions so Ashley could get auditing. We had dinner with them every Sunday and saw them a lot more than that.
We all knew our suppressive declare was imminent, but they stayed VERY CONNECTED to us.
The minute we were declared, Ashley received a bunch of calls from the cherch informing her of such and within an hour, she disconnected from us. THAT IS A FACT THAT I WILL GUARANTEE TO BE THE CASE!!!
Her husband tacitly followed suit and in the process, they refused to let us ever see our grand-daughter, which was the MOST devastating aspect of the entire situation. We were both very close to her and I can only imagine what she might think happened to her GPA and Nana.
For them to suggest they HAD NOTHING to do with it is insulting in the extreme.
Even their saying my wife “sided with her son” show’s how insane they are. Normal religions don’t force you to side with one child or another.
I am so proud of my wife for speaking out as thoroughly as she has. Having seen the film, I can assure you the cherch has A LOT to worry about and I can understand their trying to take cover. BUT TO LIE the way they do should not be allowed in this country.
As a final note, my wife is one of the most honest, if not THE most honest person I have ever met. For them to refer to her as CROCIDILE LIAR is moronic and reminds me of elementary school.
If I think of more ways to expose their lies – it will be done.
Thank you Sheldon. Thank you Sara. The pain this cruel “church” has put you through is pure torture. Sara is doing the ONLY thing (Unfortunately) that can be done. Speak Out!
Because it seems the IRS or FBI don’t have the capacity to do it, speaking out is the only solution to end the cruel tactics this “church” uses to control its remaining members.
Thanks, Shel & Sara. I can’t begin to feel what it must be like to experience such a vicious attack…and then be blamed for it. May all this end soon and you then experience a genuine reconnection to your full family.
>moronic and reminds me of elementary school.
That is a great description of David Miscavige, thug leader of the criminal cult of $cientology. Clearly, Miscavige and $cientology are evil to the core.
It sounds like defamation of character. !!
Sheldon and Sara, My heart goes out to you. The way they tried to smear Sara is horrible. I too had my kids turned against me with lies and they disconnected from me after they told me they didn’t want to disconnect. This is what the church does to families! I wonder if a lawsuit in your case is in order: defamation of character because they publicly smeared Sarah. And also pain and suffering from not being able to see the daughter and granddaughter. It would be a great court case.
Thanks to you and Sara for standing up to the cherch. We know how much courage that takes!
We are all looking forward to the day when our family members will see the truth and we can all be reunited.
Hear Hear
Holy shit!
Sheldon and Sara I’m really sorry for what you are going through.
Don’t mind my usual smart ass comments, it is people like you who are going to bring a real change into this insanity.
Best wishes to you and your family.
Sheldon & Sara, I am so sorry for what this evil, corrupt organization has done to your family. They are a disgusting example of a “church” and honestly it makes me angry that they’re even allowed to call themselves that.
I would, however, like you to know that I have blasted that letter all over Twitter so that those who don’t believe Co$ forces people to disconnect can see it in action. The public is becoming more aware.
I can never begin to fathom what your family has been through, all I can do is offer my thanks for your bravery in speaking out and send my best wishes to you & yours. Please know that you are not alone, and there are people who don’t even know you who are on your side, and we aren’t going anywhere.
Stay Strong. We are behind you all the way. (((((hugs))))))
This is a great response, NOLAGirl. I love what you did over Twitter.
Thank you McCarran. 🙂
” Normal religions don’t force you to side with one child or another. ”
I certainly appreciate your post Sheldon. What you say is sooth. I can attest from my own experience.
$cientology is neither ‘normal’ nor is it a ‘religion’ in it’s behavior. It is truly wonderful seeing it disappear. I will help it along to the best of my ability.
Yo Dave,
Another day, another lie, another demonstration of you destroying yourself …… which is as it should be. No one could fuck it up better than you. Keep it up.
One more suggestion good buddy………..in the name of good footbullets I recommend the following for your Sunday afternoon activity:
Unzip your trousers…………put whatever morsel you find in your mouth …………..bite down!!! Complain to someone who cares ……. if that is possible.
Thanks to all of you. I appreciate all you have said here and your kind thoughts to me and my family. Speaking out is the right thing to do and in my case I felt it was the only thing to do. Keeping quiet might have staved off the attacks, and maybe even made my daughter feel sorry about what happen. But I had a truth that needed to be told so that others wouldn’t fall into the trap of the Church of lies and fear and loose their children, family and friends. Thank you Nola girl for sending that letter all over Twitter and the Internet. Thanks to all of you who do speak out. We need more people brave enough to do that. Most of you here on this site speak out and you are heroes in my book. Thank you.
<3
Thank YOU.
Reform or lightening of Scientology’s official extremist shunning of their members who fail to disconnect from SPs, is futile.
if they won’t reform or lighten up, then the only thing to do is continue to expose them for their heartlessness.
Scientology disgracefully pretends to be a religion.
It’s a heartless fake religion, which at least in other countries is NOT graced with the label religion, and rightly so since Scientology does not deserve the definition of religion.
The US Constitution loophole on religion decision labeling and then no other societal body left to judge what is and what is not a religion, is an American freedom that opens the door to abominations like Scientology.
Warm heartfelt good wishes to you and your husband.
I left the SO with my daughter SO 25 years ago. It was a hard “choice” for me at the time as I was still a true believer. However, she had been removed from our “custody” and put into the “Children of the Corn” environment that passes for Scientology child care. She couldn’t read or write when we left and she was 8 years old. Today, my daughter’s mother remains at International HQ and has had no news of her only daughter in all these years — her “choice.”
My ex-wife doesn’t know that her daughter grew up; had a first boyfriend; went to a dance; graduated from high school; served her country in the armed forces; went to college; became a doctor; married the nicest neatest guy in the world; has given us two perfect grandchildren; and the thousand other bits of natural human love and experiences that go with those missed years. On our end, we remain hopeful, vigilant and easy to find for a happy reunion.
It has taken me many years to grow back a soul and understand my experience. I remain ready to help my ex-wife without any scintilla of judgement if and when she will let me. It will be a long road of healing, but I am a patient man.
Wonderful comment Chris.
Chris T, growing back your soul is a very good description of the process of regaining your self determinism. Your poor wife has missed one of the greatest joys of this human experience, seeing her child grow up. What a sacrifice. That shows exactly where on the tone scale the Cof$ resides for staff members.
Thank you Chris. Your story is another very sad one about what happens when the church enforces disconnection and tears families apart. If your ex-wife only knew what she had lost and missed out on. You are an admirable man who had the guts and integrity to say “no” to the abuse. I hope you have told your story far and wide. Either way, it would be good to tell the world an update on what happened and how your daughter grew into a beautiful, productive member of society. I’m very pleased to see the stories coming out on this post about other people’s stories of disconnection. The more that speak up, the sooner we can see change in the cult of Scientology with regards to disconnection and their abuses.
Thank you Mike Rinder. I want to encourage others who suffer from the pain of disconnection to have hope and not to give up for Scientology crumbles by the moment. My experience has taught me to feel for the millions around the world who participate in larger religions who practice disconnection and worse because those religions are bigger and have political clout. Scientology is receding in the rear-view mirror, but for the rest of the world and other extremist religions, not so much. I suffer for those people.
Sheldon,
Family relationships are tenuous at best because each person in a family has a different personality. With children, step children, etc. they take careful nurturing, which it appears you were doing at the time the “church” made the decision force one of your family members to quit talking to you.
For that family member to claim that you made that choice shows how bizarre and insane the “church” of Scientology and its prison brainwashing tactics are.
I hope someday she too escapes the brainwashing and you are reunited. Hateful words said while under the spell of brainwashing still cause pain, and I am sorry she is causing you unnecessary pain due to her imprisonment.
Everything you said Sheldon!!!
The letter from Ellis is a shocking document from a “church” and should be publicized as much as possible to warn anyone even THINKING of getting involved with this group of vicious and greedy thugs.
I’m really proud of Sara too Sheldon, and you and Nick also. Nobody is buying their stupid lies so don’t worry. Wear what you’re doing with pride, we applaud you!
<3 Dora
Best wishes to Sheldon and Sara! Sara’s compelling story is going to be told to millions of people in a big way very soon. I can’t wait to listen to everything she has to say in the film, while the CoS will sit there and whine like a sore loser that it is.
Thanks, Mike, for this great post.
Of course they will keep it up ! They are following LRH policy and are KSW and are On Source. I love it !
Keep on keepin’ on David Miscavige and Thugs, Inc. The more you do what the Ol’ Man and his Junior Thug say, the faster you go down. VWD !
“In some ways, I hope they keep it up.”
“Never interrupt your enemy when he’s making a mistake.” (Napoleon Bonaparte)
“My adversary is my benefactor.” (Unknown, but I wish I said it)
Insert only remaining foot into gun. Pull trigger.
They have no feet left to shoot honey. Perhaps they should take aim at the head? Just being hopeful. 😉
🙂 I like your vision Lisa. Actually, I think that is its aim at this point.